Henry hermann



(No Model.) Y

H. HERMANN. ELEVATOR HATOHWAY,

0 9 8 l 8 r d my wf u a P a O AL 4F 0 N UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY I-IERMANN, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO BENJAMIN T. BABBITT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ELEVATOR-HATCHWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,227, dated April 8, 1890.

Application filed July 13, 1889- Serial No. 317,395. (No model.)

T (0% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY HERMANN, of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Elevator-Hatch- Way Protectors, of which the following is a specification.

My improvement relates to means for automatically closing the entrance to a hatchway for elevators by means of a guard or gate.

I will describe my improvement in detail, and then point out the novel features in a claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is :5 a vertical section of a portion of a hatchway embodying my improvement and also a portion of an elevator. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken at right angles to Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference designate corre- 2o sponding parts in both figures.

A designates an elevator, here shown as a freight-elevator, and is of ordinary construction. It is raised and lowered by means of a cable a in a well-known manner and is guided by means of pulleys a on the elevator, which move on guideways a extending vertically at the sides of the elevator.

B designates the floor of abuilding in which a hatchway is formed. Usually such hatchways are left unprotected upon one or more sides and accidents frequently occur by persons falling through such hatchways. In order to prevent this I employ gates or guards O, which may be made of wood and formed 0f cross-bars c and intermediate verticallyextending pickets c. The ends of the crossbars extend loosely into grooves d, formed in uprights D,which may be secured to the flooring or other suit. ble support. The gates or guards may slide freely up and down in said grooves and are guided in their movements thereby. The gates or guards are intended to be automatically maintained in an elevated position when the elevator is raised above them. This I effect by attaching weights E by means of chains 6 to the lower of the crossbars 0 at the ends of the latter. The chains e extend over pulleys fijournaled, as here shown, upon the uprights D and through openings f in said uprights, and thence to the cross-bar c.

When the elevator is brought down, it contacts with the upper edges of the gates and forces them downwardly to the levelof the floor against the resistance of the weights E,which are thus raised. When the elevator rises, the 5 5 weights E will operate to again raise the gates into their normal position. Although I have shown two of such gates, I wish it to be understood that I may use but one, or more than two.

It will be seen that by my improvement the hatchway is never left exposed, but that when ever the elevator is raised from it the opening of the hatchway is so guarded that persons cannot fall through it.

YVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, with an elevator, of a hatchway, a rigid vertically-movable gate or guard arranged at one side of said hatchway with the upper edge of which said elevator will contact in its downward movement to move the gate or guard down to the floor-level, and a weight or weights connected with said gate or guard to automatically move it up wardly when the elevator is raised, substantially as specified.

HENRY HERMANN.

\Vitnosses:

FREDK. HAYNES, GEO. BARRY. 

